The best of times, the worst of times: Maritime Security in the Asia-Pacific

Year: 2005Language: englishAuthor: Joshua Ho, Catherine Zara RaymondGenre: -Publisher: World ScientificEdition: 1Pages: 312ISBN: 981-256-321-0Format: PDFQuality: Scanned pages + text layerDescription: "This timely and impressive volume should increase the likelihood that it may after all be possible to realise the late Michael heifer's vision of a stable, peaceful maritime regime in East Asia, allowing and obliging all states to manage their marine resources in accordance with the principles of international law, and without risk of tension and conflict."Stein Tonnesson, Director, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO)"The book is a pathfinder for policy and decision makers! The authors explore various facets of the maritime domain, its strengths and vulnerabilities, and even more importantly, our successes and failures to understand and better protect it. It is a must read both for the generalists and the specialists. Rohan Gunaratna, Head, International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, IDSS, Singapore"This collection of works represents an extremely important and useful contribution to the understanding of contemporary maritime security in the Asia-Pacific region. The analyses, all from well-respected scholars in the field, are well researched and written, providing unique insight into an area that has traditionally been highly opaque in nature. The book will be critical reading for anyone who have a keen interest in the evolving dynamic of maritime security in the post-9/11 era."Peter Chalk, Senior Analyst, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California

Foreword

In Southeast Asia, maritime security has, over the last 20 years, taken on muchgreater importance, due in part to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law ofthe Sea (UNCLOS) and its archipelagic state and Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ) regimes. Regional seas contain rich marine resources, major sea linesof communication (SLOCs) and a range of non-conventional threats such aspiracy, illegal migration, arms smuggling and maritime terrorism. Economicdevelopment has provided die resources for maritime expansion amidst growingreliance on foreign trade and energy. There is greater dependence on longand vulnerable SLOCs in a region not without instability and the risk of conflict.Whilst military spending in Europe declined as a result of the peace dividendfrom tiie end of the Cold War, military spending has increased in theMiddle East and Asia, reflecting continuing concerns over security threats.Much of this military spending has gone into improving and expanding maritimesecurity capabilities. This emphasis on maritime security has resulted innew building programmes for the Chinese Navy, continuing investment innaval capabilities by India and recent naval expansion programmes by countriessuch as Taiwan, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.Competition for resources and strategic access may increase the potential forconflict in maritime zones, especially in disputed areas of maritime jurisdictionthat may include SLOCs and choke points. Multilateral security cooperationis thus required to manage emerging security threats in both the traditionalas well as the non-traditional domains.This volume is a product of a conference organised by IDSS on "MaritimeSecurity in the Asia-Pacific". The volume begins by taking a look atthe regional maritime environment, from there it then examines the maritimechallenges that the regions faces, followed by an examination of the prospectsfor regional cooperation. Both traditional and non-traditional security mattersare addressed in the volume. We hope that the analyses presented in this volumewill spark further debate among policy-makers and scholars, debate thatcould generate policy alternatives and possible solutions to emerging securityissues.vvi The Best of Times, the Worst of TimesThe Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies is pleased to have beeninvolved in this volume and the excellent contribution of the 12 scholarsis also gratefully acknowledged. We look forward to further collaborationwith scholars and other interested parties in studying the maritime securityissues of the Asia-Pacific.Barry DeskerDirectorInstitute of Defence and Strategic Studies

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